'The Block' 2018: Norm and Jess' reveal what really went down ahead of the dramatic arrest on the show

From day one, viewers have been seeing men in uniform on The Block site -- carpenters, plumbers, sparkies… but police officers? Not so much.

This week on Nine's hit renovation show, five officers rock The Block, set in Melbourne's St Kilda, to arrest two French labourers who had reportedly stolen contestants Norm and Jess' credit card back in week three.

According to a Nine spokesperson: "Two labourers on the Block site were arrested for stealing Norm and Jess' credit card. One culprit was convicted of theft and credit card fraud and was deported. The other was released. Suncorp refunded all of Norm and Jess' missing money. They weren't employed directly by Norm and Jess, they were just working on the site."

But as much as the crime itself was shocking, so was what the suspects were racking up on their credit card. Norm and Jess reveal all exclusively to TheFIX...

Talk us through your thoughts when the police arrived to make the arrest?

Norm: We didn't really know what was going on. Jess was there at the back when the police had already put them in the police car. I thought Jess was sticking her nose into something she shouldn't be sticking her nose into. So I walked into the back and said, "Jess, what are you doing? And she goes, "It's the French labourers -- they're the ones who stole our credit cards!" I just could not believe it.

Jess: It wasn't like [the arrest] was even set up for when we were there [filming]. I nearly missed it because I was out. None of us had any idea that the police were even coming. It was a legitimate shock.

(Nine)

What was your relationship like with the labourers? Did you guys interact at all?

Jess: We felt a little bit tricked because we've given them drinks and we've served them. I've been a backpacker myself, so it's kind of any unsaid rule in the backpacking community that if you're a former backpacker, then you look after them. They were honestly so friendly and kind. They were the last people on the entire block that we thought would've ever stolen anything.

What happened in lead up to the card going missing?

Jess: We had two credit cards to The Block account -- one Norm's and one was mine. We didn't think we lost it, we just thought it was somewhere. Or that the card had been thrown out and that somebody might have rummaged through a bin. But then when Suncorp Sarah looked at our spending with her big corporate glasses and said they were worried about us spending money on charcoal chicken, food, booze and nightclubs, I couldn't believe it. I looked at Norm and said, "What the hell have you been up to?" And then I saw the look on his face and knew it wasn't him. If we really had been spending our money on booze and charcoal chicken, then people would've thought we were massive deroes.

Norm: I was more mortified of the fact Jess accused me of stealing!

That's the thing, did you guys blame each other for the card going missing?

Jess: I wouldn't have thought it was Norm but, coincidentally, we did have charcoal chicken the night before, and we do buy booze from that booze shop. All the evidence was lining up, but I thought maybe he got our cards mixed up. But it turns out, the CCTV footage came back and it wasn't us at all -- it was the labourers.

(Nine)

How do you move on from here in knowing who to trust?

Jess: I think it's a case where you don't let a couple of rotten eggs spoil the entire dinner. So we think to ourselves that, "Oh well, they weren't the best," and then you need to trust everyone the way that they were. Because I think if you start double-guessing yourself and having paranoia on The Block, you'll go down quickly.

Did you feel a little bad when you heard one of the suspects was going to be deported?

Jess: We obviously don't want anyone to be deported. It was almost the perfect crime -- we had no idea. But that's out of our control, and I suppose if you break the law...

(Nine)

Did this disrupt your focus on the tasks ahead or set you back in any way?

Norm: They weren't technically our labourers. They were the off-site labourers. So it didn't really upset [our preparation] that much.

Jess: But that worries you a bit more because they had no business in our apartment. So it's not like they saw the card there and saw an opportunity. They went into an area that they didn't need to do any work for and an area they didn't need to look at, and they took a credit card from there. If you look at it from that point of view, it's a bit scarier.

Will this drama be making it as content on JessFM?

Jess: Let's just say I've definitely got it in my notes for the next JessFM show. Whether we get to it or not, it's definitely in my notes.

The Block airs Sunday at 7pm and Monday-Wednesday at 7:30pm on Nine and 9Now.

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